View full sizeOregonian Staff Writer Dana E. OlsenWilliam Sinnott, who retired from the Portland Police Bureau as a commander in 2006 and is now head of security for the city's water bureau, was tapped by Commissioner Randy Leonard to investigate the alleged sharing of promotional exams in the fire bureau.

Portland Fire Commissioner Randy Leonard chose the head of security for Portland's Water Bureau who is a retired Portland police commander to conduct an "independent investigation" into cheating allegations in the fire bureau.

William Sinnott, who retired from the Portand Police Bureau on April 18, 2006, was tapped to lead the Fire Bureau investigation in late October after a police captain reported to Fire Chief John Klum that a former fire division chief had shared a captain's promotional exam with a lieutenant.

Leonard, at first, refused on Friday to identify who he selected to conduct the investigation, repeatedly saying he simply didn't want to and didn't want to "distract" the investigator, in response to a reporter's inquiry.

"I wanted somebody who had investigative experience, who was independent of the Fire Bureau," Leonard said.

Later, Leonard relented.

After retiring from the Police Bureau, Sinnott worked as director of the Portland Business Alliance's Downtown Clean and Safe program. He then returned to work for the city, heading up the Police Bureau's Service Coordination Team that Leonard helped start and continues to promote, a group of police and other service providers who target chronic offenders and work to steer them into drug and alcohol treatment and housing.

Sinnott currently works as security manager for Portland's Water Bureau, which Leonard oversees. His 2009 salary was $86,118.

Leonard said he asked Water Bureau manager David Schaff if Sinnott could conduct the investigation. Sinnott is getting paid by the city as Water Bureau security manager, but not specifically for the Fire Bureau investigation, according to Leonard.

After a captain reported the allegations to the chief, Klum said the lieutenant who received the promotional exam met with him. The lieutenant told the chief that Fisher on Sept. 30 had given him a typed document marked "DRAFT" that included written questions for a captain's exam, as well as a packet of chief's oral interview questions for the lieutenant's and captain's promotional tests.

In his meeting with Klum, the lieutenant relayed that "he felt uncomfortable," and had sought guidance from a captain on what to do. The lieutenant has not taken a captain's promotional exam. Klum said he believes that the improper sharing of promotional exams is limited. "If it was a systemetic problem, I think we would have heard that," Klum said.

No one has been disciplined, and Fisher's retirement was scheduled before any investigation had begun.

"His reaction has been one of shock," Leonard said, of Fisher. "He's adamant he did nothing wrong."

"I've been told informally he was mentoring the lieutenant and helping him prepare for his career," Leonard said. "If anything, it demonstrates an exercise of poor judgement."

Assisting in the investigation are fire human resource coordinator James Fairchild and training division chief Glen Eisner. Klum said about six interviews have been completed. It's not clear if Sinnott assisted in the interviews or is reviewing transcripts of the interviews.

Klum said he was present when Eisner and Fairchild interviewed Fisher, who is now living in Palm Desert, California, by phone on Nov. 8. Klum said he didn't ask any questions during the interview, but Leonard suggested he be present to ensure Fisher was forthright.

"He didn't think he did anything inappropriate,'' Klum said. Fisher told the bureau investigators that he shared test study material, but not an actual test, according to Klum. "He wasn't defensive, said he would offer that to anybody.''

Leonard said he expects the inquiry to be completed by year's end.

Both Leonard and Klum said it's not unusual for firefighters who take promotional exams to get together afterwards to discuss the tests and write down the questions for future "study points." But this was not handwritten material, but typed questions that were shared.

A retired city employee can't face discipline, but a note could be placed in their personnel file if they were to apply for another city position or if a prospective employer contacted the city for a reference.

Klum said he recognized from the start that his bureau couldn't conduct the investigation. "I appoint these division chiefs. It's just too close to my office," he said. "With that said, I want to be appraised of what's going on and that it's thorough." --Maxine Bernstein